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Social Welfare Services are on strike today, halting normal operations and leaving some citizens without key support as employees protest a government decision over disability program oversight.
Workers organized by PASYDY say they are being forced to coordinate contracts for individual programs for people with disabilities, a role traditionally handled by the Department of Social Inclusion for People with Disabilities (TKEAA). While the union supports the programs themselves, it argues the assignment falls outside their duties and calls the decision “unilateral and unfair.”
“The Deputy Minister promised dialogue today, but the Director General chooses to ignore it,” PASYDY says, adding that the strike and a protest at the Deputy Ministry building are necessary after repeated attempts to resolve the dispute fail.
The Deputy Ministry of Social Welfare calls the strike “forced and unjustified,” noting that discussions with PASYDY and the ΙΣΟΤΙΑ union were ongoing as recently as Sunday. Officials regret any disruption to citizens relying on social services and urge the unions to return to talks.
“The need to create six individual programs for people with severe disabilities is not in dispute,” the Ministry says. “The only question is which department should oversee them, and that can be resolved through dialogue.”
